For the Zoology department students of Madras Christian College(MCC), the last three months have been harrowing, to say the least. For, ever since the students finally gathered courage and spoke up about an incident of sexual harassment that took place in the month of January while they were all on a department trip to Karnataka, their lives have become difficult.

To begin with, it took them a month to open up and file a complaint (on February 8, 2019) against a senior faculty who, they allege, sexually harassed them throughout the trip (a four-day trip starting January 9, 2019). Immediately after that, their last academic classes were dismissed; but the students started a protest demanding justice and now, they allege they have even been threatened with death by unidentified goons.

Professor becomes sex predator
• Sukanya*, one of the victims, recalls, “During the four days’ outstation trip, Professor R Raveen, assistant professor in the Department of Zoology (a teaching staff for the past 28 years), Prof Samuel Tennyson and a junior lady staff accompanied us. Once, while crossing the road, during the trip, Prof Raveen dragged me towards him, not holding my hand but my upper arm, thereby touching my breasts. It shook me, and I have done my best to avoid him and maintain a distance from him since then.”

• Sunaina* says, “Once, Prof Raveen rested his palm on my thigh, constantly rubbing and ignoring my discomfort. First, he squeezed himself into the last row of the bus where we were sitting even though there were empty seats in the front rows, and then…”

The worst, recall the students, was when he allegedly barged into the girls’ room in the middle of the night to lie next to one of them. “Usually people knock, but that night, we were all about to sleep and one of the girls was lying on the bed when he barged in and pinched her butt. He then lay down next her on the same bed that we all were sharing, creeping us out,” narrates Harini*.

It doesn’t end there — “Once”, recalls Sunaina, “Prof Raveen has this habit of hanging out with girl students on the campus as well. And he regularly finds ways to touch the girls — one is whenever we drink water, he immediately reaches out to wipe the water that sometimes trails down our necks — he kept doing the same during the trip as well.”

As for Prof Samuel Tennyson, who was also present when most of the above incidents took place during the trip, apparently encouraged Prof Raveen’s behaviour, and did not intervene to defend the students. And the junior woman staff couldn’t do anything as Prof Raveen was bossing over everyone. Also, after the girls complained, it turns out that the accused professor could be a regular sex offender, for, it has come to light that an MCC alumnus (1997-2000 batch) was also sexually harassed by the same professor.

Post-trip dilemma
It was after the trip, and when the students started sharing their harrowing stories that they came to know that there are many such stories hiding amongst them, all pertaining to the same professor. “Since we are in the final year, we had to give a feedback letter to the department and we took this opportunity to air out our angst. One of the staff members checked our letters, and asked why we were writing such things,” says Sukanya.

But after much deliberation, they registered an anonymous complaint — it was rejected by their department. After that, 35 of the 50 students who went on the trip decided to sign a detailed complaint letter, describing each incident of harassment. They also added how the other male staff egged on his colleague to harass the students further. The letter was sent to the college principal, Alexander Jesudasan. “The principal, we thought, would take the matter seriously, but he forwarded it to the HoD, Prof Moses Inbaraj, knowing fully well that it’s a violation of UGC Regulation,” says Deepika.

Violation of UGC Regulation
The principal not intimating the Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) of the college is a direct violation of the University Grants Commission’s 2015 Regulation (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions). The regulation mandates all sexual harassment cases to be intimated to the ICC of the college. Moreover, during the enquiry, not a single woman staff was present to hear out the victims.

“We asked for a woman staff as we wanted to explain everything in detail but we were denied that. The excuse the faculty came up with that there wasn’t any senior woman staff present during that time on the campus. Two male staff members were present for the enquiry and every time we narrated a story, they mocked us, made jokes of the incidents and laughed. They even said we were making things up against the professor and hinted that the problem was with us,” adds Deepika.

No justice, but death threats aplenty
• On April 2, the students sat on a day-long protest inside the campus demanding justice
• On April 3, one of the victims was threatened inside the campus by four men who claimed to be students from the same college. They asked her to take back all the allegations
• The same evening, two students (boys) from the same department were threatened with death by a man. “We were boarding the train to go back home after college. Suddenly, a man in his 30s blocked our way and said, ‘Whatever is happening in your department has to end; if not then we’ll end your life. Now give me `500 if you want to know who sent me to threaten you.’ We didn’t have money so he said that a separate team has been assigned to murder us,” recalls Hari*

• Also on the same evening, another couple of victims among those who have filed the complaint were threatened by another man at the railway station
Situation right now
For the longest time, the principal was ‘on leave’; he had gone to Washington as per reports. He, however, returned on Tuesday, but has refused to comment on the issue, or take any action till the ICC report is out.

The Zoology department’s semester practical exams are yet to be rescheduled and the students have no clue when the exams will start — they were supposed to declare the dates on April 16, but haven’t even though the principal is back. “We are afraid they’re going to play with our degree now,” says Hari, and adds, “Had the principal wanted to take action, he should have done so right when we submitted the complaint.”

While Prof Raveen refused to comment on the issue, principal-in-charge A Duraisamy said that the case has been handed over to the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Committee which is looking into the matter. “We are awaiting the report; we don’t know how long it’ll take. The rescheduling of the practical exams is under process and the dates will be announced soon,” he states.
“The practical exams were cancelled because the class didn’t attend it as a whole. Post the protest we’ve been constantly under threat and mental pressure and that’s also affecting our studies. We just don’t want him to continue harassing women in the college and if we don’t fight for it now, this will happen to our juniors, too,” says Sukanya.

What does the law say?
The UGC (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2015 has clearly highlighted each and every segment that falls under the sexual harassment category at higher education institutes (HEI), and the clear definition of sexual harassment…

Sexual Harassment means an unwanted conduct with sexual undertones if it occurs or which is persistent and which demeans, humiliate or creates a hostile and intimidating environment or is calculated to induce submission by actual or threatened adverse consequences and includes any one or more or all of the following unwelcome acts or behaviour (whether directly or by implication), namely; –
• Any unwelcome physical, verbal or non-verbal conduct of sexual nature;
• Demand or request for sexual favours;
• Making sexually coloured remarks; physical contact and advances; or
• showing pornography.
The students can approach the cops
“The Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 is a legislative act in India that seeks to protect women from sexual harassment. It mandates every workplace that has more than 10 employees and HEI too comes under this legislation. If the victim feels there has to be a criminal action taken, they can prefer a police complaint, because the remedies are available. The problem with HEI is the crude atmosphere where most of the times students fear academic repercussions. It is important to have an open forum in every educational institute to discuss issues like this but that cannot grant any legal remedy. In terms of legal remedies, one has to approach procedures that are established by the law, that is, ICC which every HEI must have. The students can also approach the nearest police station and register a complaint if they feel the campus administrative staff are not being receptive to their grievances.”
— Akila RS, an advocate at Madras High Court

Why do HEIs need to have prevention of sexual harassment forum?
Most of the colleges in the city have an open forum to discuss internal college issues but there aren’t any full-fledged active body that only addresses sexual harassment cases. Sharon S, visual communication 2nd year, Loyola College says, “Women don’t have a separate platform to address issues like sexual harassment in our college. But if something like that happens, we students will gather surely to talk about it. As a woman student, I believe we need to have some place to open up about such issues.”
But officials from Loyola College say that they’ve an internal open forum where the students can address their issues to the officials and if actions are required, it’s taken after a proper investigation. “If any substantial evidence of a crime is found during the investigation either warning or suspension is given depending upon the gravity of the crime committed by the employee. Four years ago, we had a sexual harassment complaint against one of the staff members, it wasn’t an intense case so he was suspended for six months. The allegation was made by one of the MPhil research woman students against a male professor. When the enquiry committee found him guilty, he was suspended,” says an official on anonymity.

The forum maintains privacy
Dr Mythili T, Directorate of Students Affairs, SRM Institute of Science and Technology assures that their institute always had sexual harassment and grievance redressal cell. “It has members from across disciplines, both men and women and it’s pretty active when it comes to taking action. The forum always maintains the privacy of people based on their request and action is taken depending upon the intensity of the case.”
*Names have been changed upon request

New Delhi: The Madras Christian College (MCC) has sacked a professor from the zoology department after he was found guilty of sexual harassment. R. Raveen and Samuel Tennyson were found guilty by the institute’s internal complaints committee (ICC) of sexually harassing several students during a college excursion in January this year.

While Tennyson was found guilty of abetting Raveen, an assistant professor, action has not been taken against him yet. Tennyson has filed a case in the Madras high court on the issue.

According to The News Minute‘s report on July 16, MCC’s principal Alexander Jesudasan confirmed that Raveen had been fired. “We have dismissed the professor after the ICC found him guilty of multiple cases of sexual harassment against students of the department,” he told the website.

In Tennyson’s case, he said a dismissal order cannot be issued because the matter is sub judice. However, the professor has been ordered by the Madras HC not to enter the campus, Jesudasan said.

A student of the zoology department told The News Minute that Raveen has not visited the college since it re-opened in June. “I had enquired with the other staff of the department and they also said that his attendance book showed that he was ‘officially dismissed as per government norms’,” the student said.

Background

The ICC, constituted by the college on April 6, heard the victims’ allegations on April 9. In its report, the ICC found the professors guilty of sexually abusing the students and has directed the administration to take strict action against them.

“… it is the unanimous finding of the committee that the actions of the respondents, Dr Raveen and Dr Tennyson did constitute sexual harassment by creating a hostile work/study environment that resulted in gender discrimination against complainants,” the report said.

Also read: What Will It Take for Science in India to Have Its #MeToo Movement?

In March, it had come to light that the college had attempted to “bury” the complaints and that it had failed to conform to the UGC’s guidelines regarding the processing of sexual harassment complaints.

Women students had alleged that Raveen had behaved inappropriately with them and passed lewd comments during the department trip in January and that Tennyson had encouraged his behaviour.

According to student testimonies, Raveen and Tennyson verbally and sexually harassed several girls.

Following the trip, the students filed an anonymous complaint with the principal, who forwarded it to the head of the department. By not constituting an ICC, the principal had violated the University Grants Commission’s 2015 regulation, which mandates all sexual harassment cases to be intimated to the ICC of the college.

According to The News Minute, the enquiry initiated at the behest of the complaints ended with the HOD saying that the department would warn the two professors since no previous complaints have been received against them.

However, as these allegations became known, an alumnus from the 1997-2000 zoology batch also disclosed similar instances of harassment from Raveen during a college department trip and revealed that the accused was ‘suspended’ for 15 days after a complaint.

Also read: Why Indian Academia’s Harassment Woes Need Radical Rethink of Its Structure

As this deception came to light, and it became evident that the college authorities had deliberately falsified the accused’s record, the students began to protest. This finally prompted the institute to set up the ICC and begin an official inquiry. The committee’s report was released on April 24.

Students of the zoology department expressed relief with the ICC’s findings. One student representative said, “Our allegations have been found to be true. If the management still does not take action, we will definitely protest.”

As the #MeToo movement kicked off in October 2018, several allegations of harassment and abuse have been levelled against a professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, and five professors at IIT Roorkee.

Interestingly, MCC’s Dean of Student Affairs Prince Annadurai and Dean of Women Students Vijayakumari Joseph were kept in the dark about these complaintsSamuel Merigala
Edex Live

MCC Madras Christian College
Students from Madras Christian College have alleged that a Zoology lecturer has been behaving inappropriately with female students — an issue that came to a head during a recent outstation trip that he accompanied them on. The students claimed that he touched a few women students, passed lewd comments and entered the room of women students at night while they were on this trip. They went on to file a complaint with the college authorities. Shockingly though, the ‘enquiry’ committee came up with a rather strange punishment: They decided the best punishment would be to not let the accused teacher travel with the students on their trips for the next three years.

Both male and female students of the Zoology Department have alleged that during their department trip to Karnataka in January, Professor R Raveen touched female students inappropriately, made lewd comments about their dressing and invaded their privacy. Dr. R. Raveen is working as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Zoology at Madras Christian College, Chennai, India. Raveen’s research interests lie in the areas of Zoology, Natural Medicine, Phytochemistry and Animal Science.

“He rested his palm on my thigh and refused to remove it despite noticing discomfort,” said Devi*, one of the students, claiming that Raveen had done this after squeezing into the last row of the bus, though there were empty seats.

Students also claimed that Raveen passed lewd comments about the way they had dressed. “He asked us why we hadn’t brought small (revealing) clothes for the trip and ridiculed us for wearing salwars,” said Lakshmi*, another student, claiming the other male staff member, Samuel Tennyson, not only refused to interfere but also encouraged Raveen’s behaviour.

The biggest allegation, however, came from Sunita*, another victim, who claimed the worst part was when he allegedly barged into her room in the middle of the night to lie next to another classmate. “Maybe it was consensual between them, but the other girl and I were terrified when he just lay next to us in the night,” she said.

On returning to college and after much deliberation, the students decided to file an anonymous complaint towards the end of January only to have it rejected by their department. So, 35 of the total 50 students who went on the trip, signed a complaint detailing the incidents of harassment and the inaction of the other staff member during the trip and sent it to college principal Alexander Jesudasan.

It is learnt that the principal forwarded the complaint to the Head of the Department Moses Inbaraj, without intimating the Internal Complaints Committee of the college, which is a violation of the UGC (Prevention, Prohibition, Redressal of Sexual Harassment of Women Employees and Students in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2015 which mandates all sexual harassments be forwarded to the ICC.

Following a brief, ‘namesake’ single-man enquiry with victims, it was decided that Raveen and Samuel Tennyson would not accompany students on trips for the next three years and they would not evaluate exam papers of the affected class. “How is this even a punishment? We feel helpless and let down. Our juniors will surely continue facing harassment because the management chose not to take strict action,” said a student.

Interestingly, Dean of Student Affairs Prince Annadurai and Dean of Women Students Vijayakumari Joseph were kept in the dark about these complaints. “If the students had approached me, I would have initiated action,” said Prince Annadurai, explaining his limitations in the issue because it also involves staff members. When contacted, Principal-in-charge A Duraisamy said that he would look into the issue and would appraise Principal Jesudasan about the situation. “We will definitely take strict action if the allegations are found true,” Duraisamy said. One professor also claimed that this was not the first sexual harassment complaint filed against Raveen.

When contacted, Raveen claimed that the allegations were ‘politically motivated’ by the former head of the department Arul Samraj. “He has been using the students to ruin my career and prevent my advancement in the department,” he said. Arul Samraj, for his part, actually defended him and has refuted these allegations. “They are baseless allegations. An independent enquiry must be held by the Internal Complaints Committee to check the veracity of these allegations,” Samraj said.